Recovery

Thanks to all the nice aunties for your concern shown over this trying period for both mummy as well as Zethan.

Fortunately the review on Mon indicate no wheezing thus cleared of broncholitis, so glad need no neubalizing. mummy voice out her concern and was addressed by PD that there is no way of prevention as he suspect it's likely to be viral / bacterial infection. He noted that daddy has got childhood asthma and sinus but assured that unless there's 3 bouts of occurence closed to one another, it would only be classified as sensitive airway. further tests might be conducted to diagnose if it's asthma and if necessary, child will be subjected to longer episode of Singulair.

Anyway Zethan is on his way to recovery though still show signs of occasional cough with lotsa phlegm. Was advised by PD to continue his medication, can you imagine he finished the whole bottle of ventolin!

fortunately out of the unfortunate, Zethan's appetite is slightly affected but still greatly enjoyed his porridge, slurpz!

Heartpain

mummy is super duper heartpain now, her heart is bleeding badly.

Zethan had broncholitis and had to be put on neubalizer which made him scream and yelled and cried for a good 5 minutes or so. Shook his head furiously and tried to brush it off with his hands. Mummy's heart sunk when she saw Dr Ng taking a long time hearing his chest, she knew it coming. She had to brace herself and control her emotions in front of grandma lest she got worried.

the worst part is returning with 7 medications. mummy is shocked while Dr Ng continue with the prescription one after another. Zethan had to be put on antibiotics (Claripen) as he had slight ear infection resulting from the choked ear tube due to phlegm built up. For his phlegm / cough he had Singulair (prevent inflammation), Ventolin (to free up the airway) and Amxol (clear up phlegm). For runny nose he had to consume Zyrtec (thank god it's only once a day) and Illadin to dry up the muscus. Last but not least Paracetamol for the slight fever he's having.

Hope that all cleared up soon and Zethan had to return for a review on Mon.

Market

Zethan went on his very 1st 'expedition' to a wet market yesterday, a pity no photos was taken as mummy dun wish to be stared at like an alien taking photos in a wet market. She is regretting a little, should have gone ahead and ignore all.

As it is public holiday thus daddy is not working but we only managed to set off around noon as the little guy had to take his after bath nap. Picked up grandma and we reached Chinatown wet market close to 1.30pm. Now why Chinatown market when it is a long drive from home. Grandma suggested cooking frog legs porridge for Zethan, believed to be able to help strengthen his legs. It was quite a challenge to lay hands on some thus the only place for certain to have on sales will be Chinatown market.

Zethan was amazed by the live frogs, eels, fishes in the market staring intently at them with his ever famous knitted brows.

5 sets of live frogs were purchased and the vendor assisted to deskin / behead them. Mummy felt so disgusted and gross that she walked far away only to catch glimpse of him slamming the frogs against hard surface to concuss them. that's all she managed to handle and the next will be a plastic bag with 5 carcasses of the frogs for 5 days of porridge. Grandma made sure that he removed the 'lazy vein' (direct translation from hokkien - pin dua goon) as the myth suggests that consumption will lead to laziness!

a kampong chicken was purchased; deskin, de-fat (is that such a word after all) and chopped into smaller pieces. The nice elderly granny told mummy that those with black feet are better as they are leaner with lesser fats thus better for baby food preparation. having no slightest clue, mummy took her words for it. She's very nice to suggest deboning the breast meat for the porridge as she's worried that the chopped parts might result in chipped bones in the porridge. The skinny chicken cost a whopping $10.40, wonder how will one be able to know what is kampong chicken.

next on the menu shall be chicken porridge for a week followed by frog legs' porridge for the next week.

on a side note Zethan had pork porridge (double boiled with sliced pork loin - ba tao) for 5 days and enjoyed it lots. only the goodness of the pork absorbed by the grains, no pork puree served as yet.

Crawling II

perceeding the earlier post, a continuation of Zethan's adventure. Evidently he is so pleased with himself and is having a real good time. Adventure finally end when he fall flat on his cheeks!

fortunately no injuries though except for redness on the cheek that went away fast.

Doesn't he look like a Kodomo dragon with the clumsy yet fast crawls!

Crawling

Zethan must have been fascinated with the different feel that the tiles have to offer thus explaining the 'roaring' good time he is having, giggling away.

Most of the time the boundary of his crawling area is within the bumper mat.

9 mos

woo wee, the lil guy turn 9 mos today!

mummy was totally overwhelmed with emotion at TMC today recalling exactly 9 months back, the happenings in the labour suite and how the lil bundle of joy was handed to her. A wave of emotion swarm over her which brought her close to tears.

back to reality! Zethan 'dance' today and made everybody roaring with laughter. boy wasn't he adorable. a pity it was not caught on video.

some of the milestones marked over the past month.

1) crawling - with a tinge of feeling skeptical, Zethan start to explore crawling on the bumper mat which greatly resemble that of a monitor lizard. He certainly look clumsy with the big steps he took while crawling.

2) pulling to stand - just out of the blue, he pulled himself to a standing position with some assistance from his toys on the mat. in the process of shifting his weight and steps from point to point. Zethan is very ambitious as he have yet to perfect his skill of standing yet attempting to stand handsfree! of course he only managed about 2 seconds before landing on his bum.

3) Fine motor skill - observed to have great improvement in grasping item and passing from hand to hand. Does high 5 subjected to his mood. to display his displeasure, Zethan's favourite action is to brush it off for example when it comes to food in concern. Very particular when his hands are wet or come in contact with hair, food etc, either he plays with it or he refuse to close his fist.

3) Vocal - a whole tons of baby language, babbling, yelling, screaming etc. Zethan hates it big time when he observe others laughing be it at him or not, once he heard laughter, he get really angry resulting in yells and screams, period.

4) Food - tried most of the vegetables and fruits except for brocolli (high chance of wind generating) and potato (solely carbo thus no benefits to introduce too early). Zethan requires a few attempts at any one food before he can accept it readily. today he started having pork porridge and according to grandma, he heart it lots.

5) Fickle minded - easily distracted by toys around him. simply can't decide what he wish to play with thus have the best of both worlds or rather all worlds. A classic example being fiddling with the floor gym's piano and the Grand Piano at the same time. wonder if this indicate a short attention span. Zethan can readily give up anything he is pursuing and divert his attention showing no signs of being persistent.

6) musically inclined - or so mummy observed, Zethan is pretty sensitive to music and rhythm and he can drop whatever he is doing when a certain advertisement / music is on. it could be a little too early to tell.

that more or less sums it up for Zethan's progress or developments. mummy is so looking forward to his 1 Year old birthday! any celebration in the pipeline? no doubts about it.

1st Wedding

Zethan attended his 1st wedding reception at Gallery Hotel yesterday. It was Aunty Jasmyn and Uncle Marcus big day and it was a pleasure to be invited, more so Zethan is welcomed! Congrats to the beautiful couple.

Late for the solemnisation event, half through when arrived. Zethan somehow stole the limelight and everyone is excited to see him having many photos taken.

In a nutshell, Zethan is rather well behaved throughout the dinner but mummy think that he could do better. After a short while, he refused his high chair even with snacks offered. As a result, mummy did not managed to eat in peace.

He took a short nap for a little less than 15mins after mummy carried him and pat him to sleep like for 15mins or more, only to be awaken by the yum seng. mummy is a little too slow in bringing him out. At the very least, mummy is glad that Zethan managed to down his milk without a hitch.All in all, it was a pleasant experience and mummy is really glad she brought Zethan for his very 1st experience. Well done little guy!

Up

about more than week back, Zethan started pulling himself up standing unnoticed by mummy till grandma point it out. he should be 8.5 months old marking this milestone.

Now that's the disadvantage of being a FTWM (full time working mum), missing out tons of baby's milestone! but what to do, most of the average household require both parents to bring home bread. the increasingly price of babys' necessities certainly doesn't help either.

Zethan had turned out to be super agile these days by pulling himself up in his playpen, pulling himself out of the bumbo seat. this is likely to contribute to his stagnant weight which stay put at 8.8kg despite healthy itake of solids and milk feeds.

once placed on the bumper playmat, the FP grand piano double up as a 'standing aid'. instead of the intended purpose of the piano, it's much more fully utilized as a tool to help him pull himself up. upon standing, he will shift his weight and his movements carefully to the couch where he is likely to remain standing for quite a while.

he finds great excitement and enjoyment in pulling himself standing so much so that he 'resist' the idea of crawling though he isn't very good at it. well, not much opportunity for 'practise makes perfect' in this scenario.

more bumps and cuts to be expected, grandma suggest to grab a Zambak for that purpose.

Mid Autumn Festival

no formal celebration this year although grandma bought Zethan a lantern with loud music and blinking light ultraman performing stunts by turning & turning!

on the very day or rather night, mummy and daddy brought Zethan out to meet their friends Uncle Eugene and Aunty Tracy for coffee session. Good mood he is as shown by very quickly warming up and smiling at them. Despite being burnt out and way pass his usual bedtime, this little guy refused to sleep, too distracted all the way till 12+am. moments after he buckled up, off to lala land.

bad weekend

a quick post on a bad weekend.

fri night - fuss due to milk feed (last feed). refused to down milk and resorted to crying. mummy is angry over the fact that Zethan is sobbing unreasonably thus left him to wail for a good 5 mins on the bumper playmat.

sat - grandma claimed that Zethan had wind in the tummy due to crying last night thus feeling the discomfort and refusing his porridge (he usually gobble down his porridge). She said his tummy is hard and belly button cold (indication that tummy has wind).

sun - the worst meltdown experienced in public. Fussed and cry in the stroller while having his cereal cum baby jar half done. The panicky daddy who is clearly embarrassed can't keep his composure stuffed all the stuff in the bag and pushed him away almost like immediately leaving a furious mummy like a fool alone.

so that's all a real bad weekend and a guilty mummy started to question her parenting skill and question her ability to handle her baby. to 'discipline' or 'spare the rod and spoil the child', sounds like treading on thin ice.

Toys

More toys for Zethan today, take it as belated Children's Day pressies which is his 1st!

Saw the ever popular Mattel sales a few days back which started yesterday. Pop this morning and was glad there isn't really a crowd. Walking around the tentage 2-3 rounds, indecisive on what to buy for Zethan.

Exercising control to the maximum, finally left the place with mere 3 items, damage $45 paid by daddy (this time round w/o much resistance and complains) as opposed to the last. Well seriously it's very good buys and certainly worthwhile.

Upon reaching home, Zethan can't wait to lay his hands on the new toys. He 'complained' out loud when mummy and grandma try to clean the toys!

Bravo

grandma is under the weather thus mummy had to apply urgent CCL on mon. not letting the CCL go to waste, mummy brought Zethan out for tea at Jones with his babies buddies Caleb and Jon. Not to forget the rose among the thorns, ern ern.

why the title Bravo then? well because mummy finally muster all her courage and drove Zethan out alone for the 1st time (yes she is trying to praise herself). Imagine what a dare devil she is for attempting the 1st drive all the way from cck to dempsey!

overall the experience is a extremely pleasant one and Zethan behaved himself very well throughout the journey, entertaining himself talking and singing without being fussing a single bit. Of course the journey to dempsey is considered half the success bearing in mind there's the journey back and being out for few hours, his tolerance level might have fallen! on the other hand, Zethan appear to be in one of his super cheery mood, evident from the photos.

Pushing her luck further, mummy drove to Auntie Ange's house and Zethan actually spit out his pacifier and fell asleep on his own. The 'last lap' went as smooth as baby's bum bum as well with Zethan sleeping through for like close to an hour.

Very encouraging, mummy shall drive Zethan out alone more often. Well done Zethan, pat pat mummy on her back too!